Intriguing name, right? What on earth would Yum Yum Cake be? I made this recipe for my husband’s birthday treat at work because those people will eat anything. Actually, they are my second most appreciative audience. What’s the point of having a food blog if there isn’t a place to dump all the leftover food…I mean, show off my baking skills.
Seriously, my husband works with an amazing group of people. They are kind, wonderful, and supportive of each other. They bond over games at lunch time. When we got married, they were there to cheer us on. When we had a baby, they took turns holding and admiring her. When we bought a house, they came to our housewarming party and even brought unnecessary gifts. As long as they are willing, I will continue to feed them (not every day and probably not even this week, so don’t get your hopes up.)
Overall, this was not their favorite cake recipe for the same reason I didn’t make this one for the kids. Too many raisins. This is not saying that they didn’t like the Yum Yum Cake, they just preferred the other treat I sent along. 
Raisins are weird like that, though, right? These raisins are plump and juicy from being boiled in water and sugar. It makes for a beautifully moist, dense cake. The cinnamon and cloves stop it from being boring and overly sweet. 
This recipe is different from other cake recipes that I have made. There is no egg in it to be whipped up light and fluffy. Because the shortening is melted into raisin mixture at the beginning, it’s not creamed to bring more air into it. This means that all the leavening comes from the baking powder.
I opted not to put more brown sugar and nuts on top of the Yum Yum cake when it came out of the oven. I was looking for something more pure in this case. 
And now you want to know. Is this cake really Yum Yum? Yep. It really is. It’s good in an old fashioned sort of way and kind of reminds me of bread pudding (which is my all-time favorite comfort food). 
For more of my husband’s colleagues favorite treats, you might want to read about Apple Marmalade, Apple butter cake with caramel frosting, and Kringla.
I remember mom making this and thinking I would like it better with chocolate chips, that was as a child. I would use dried cranberries rather than raisins. It is a GREAT base for a scoop (or two) of Vanilla Bean ice cream!
I like Diane’s ideas to add chocolate chips. I bet you could even substitute chopped apples! It sounds Yum Yum!! Saving it to my pins.
My mother makes a cake similar to this, but I’m going to give this version a go. Looks fantastic! (Excuse my while I wipe the drool from my keyboard…)